Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-07-30
CORRUPT POLITICAL LIFE !

SSistSi OhiiIVti6 Ill h
TO SUM up all. he would aver,
And prove saint could never err;
And that let saints do what they will,
That saints were saints, and are SO still. |
We have the same political char.
acters in our day that Butler had to
deal with in his time. II anything,
they are wiser in their selfish arts
and help,yourself schemes; and do
under cover Of sanctity and devotion
to the public good that which the
sef-seekers of former times sought
not to conceal by any false and i'll.
fitting garb.
Modern political frauds have an
other advantage over the ancients,
who were sometimes ignored and
cast off by their party when they
became TOO offensive to public de-
cency; but in this age there is no
single record of any party discard.
ing its worst elements; on the con.
trary, the worse they are the greater
is their capacity for political work,
and the closer are they allied to the
party machinery. There are few
leaders in this country to whom
party and its attendant success are
not OF greater Importance and of
higher virtue than any other cause
in which they could engage.
Whether a party is ~ power or
ont, all it does is right and good and
approved, openly if not silently. In
every other cause principle may be
violated and SO ackno wledged and
the abuse condemned and corrected ;
but in politics the greatest violation
of principle is enclosed IN the virtue
of embrace by its blinded advocates.
Whatever the opposite party may
do is covered with reproach by an
envious opposition. This weakness
of fayOritism is carried into every
sacred precinct of humanity, lay and
religious. For the sake of party,
evil is espoused as good and good
decried as evil by men who in other
respects preach a pure doctrine and
clearly distinguish between the good
tree and the bad.
The few public men who oppose
the evils that arise from selfish
party practices, are held up as trait,
ors to the cause, demagogues of the
deepest die; selfish, dissatisfied
and mercenary hirelings; while the
men who struggle for party success
at any price and by every means,
are the public.spirited patriots, true
friends of the dear people, and ideal
representatives Of political life.
The cause of this false devotion to
party is one of the many weaknesses
of human nature,-selfinterest
Men who receive favoIs and hold
offices by virtue of party allegiance,
will sacrifice every principle of hon.
esty of purpose and sincerity of con.
victiOn in gratitude for the benefits
conferred. 1t is a color blindness OF
conscience. which should unfit them
for public duty, as much so as color.
blindness of the eyes units railroad
men for the custody Of life and limb.
We do not advocate independence
in politics as much as FAIRNESS OF
the political mind. The evidences
of political corruption are denied
and passed over as of little conse
quencs, when every thinking man
must see that at the bottom of all
our labor and social troubles and
revolutionary threatenings, is a one
sided political arrangement from the
district primaries to the convention
caucuses and conferences,-from the
management OF township boards to
the proceedings of the highest legis
lative committees. The masses Of
the people are fair, honest and con.
fding; and a few sharp party work,
ers in politics, supplemented farther
on by schooled politicians and the
irresistible influence of money,
offices and valuable privileges, so
completely overwhelm the rights and
demands OF the people at large,
that popular suffrage seems the
most potent factor in factional pol.
itics.
Tho MARYLAND nomoorof;o Nou